MATHEMATICAL MODELING FOR DENTAL DECAY PREVENTION IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

The high prevalence of dental caries among children and adolescents, especially those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, is a significant nationwide health concern. Early prevention, such as dental sealants and fluoride varnish (FV), is essential, but access to this care remains limited and disparate. In this research, a national dataset is utilized to assess sealants\u27 reach and effectiveness in preventing tooth decay, particularly focusing on 2nd molars that emerge during early adolescence, a current gap in the knowledge base. FV is recommended to be delivered during medical well-child visits to children who are not seeing a dentist. Challenges and facilitators in implementing this recommendation are explored using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). Finally, ordinary differential equations are used to evaluate FV’s potential impact and cost-effectiveness in preventing and treating early-stage tooth decay, which is a new use of an effective mathematical modeling technique. This comprehensive approach combines data analysis, implementation science, and mathematical modeling to effectively address urgent oral health challenges. This research offers valuable insights into dental healthcare strategies and decision-making processes

Tramadol-Induced Organ Toxicity via Oxidative Stress : A Review Study

Background: Tramadol (TR) is a synthetic opioid-like centrally acting analgesic used for moderate to severe pain management in various diseases. Numerous investigations have supported the association between tramadol use and increased levels of oxygen-free radicals. Mass production of reactive oxygen species produces secondary toxic compounds. This could damage the internal components of the cell and ultimately causes organ damage. There exists a growing trend of tramadol abuse and the increasing reports of poisoning, abuse, and mortality due to this drug. Thus, the present study aimed to review the animals and human studies on the effects of acute and chronic exposure of tramadol in inducing organ toxicities through oxidative stress.Methods: Pubmed, Google Scholar, and Scopus bibliographic databases were searched for studies that investigated oxidative stress as a mechanism of toxicity by tramadol. A manual search of reference lists of the retrieved articles was conducted. Data were collected from 2000 to 2021 (up to June 2021).Results: From 28 articles concerning experimental and human studies of TR-induced oxidative stress organ damage, which included in this review, the occurrence of lipid peroxidation, alteration in the levels of total antioxidant capacity, and other oxidative stress biomarkers in many organs such as the brain, liver, kidney, adrenal and lung in the experimental studies of tramadol exposure have been observed.Conclusion: Oxidative stress could be considered the most critical toxic mechanism in TR-induced tissue damage

Analyzing Toxic Chemical Components in Illegal Alcoholic Beverages

Background: The illegal production of alcoholic beverages, due to the non-standard conditions, increases the risk of producing counterfeit and toxic products. The chemical analysis of toxic components in illegally-produced alcoholic beverages is necessary for each country. The present study aimed to identify the existence of methanol and other potentially toxic compounds in the seized illegally-produced alcoholic beverages.Methods: In this descriptive laboratory-based study, we analyzed the toxic chemical components in sized illegally-produced alcoholic beverages, submitted to the Forensic Toxicology Laboratory of the Legal Medicine Center of Markazi Province, Arak City, Iran, in a year. A total of 100 seized illegally-produced alcohol beverage samples were collected. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of ethanol, methanol, 1-propanol, 2-propanol, and acetone was performed by the Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detection (GC–FID) method. Results: Methanol was detected in 6% of the evaluated samples (concentration range:1.2%-12%v/v). Acetone was detected in two of the studied samples (mean concentration: 0.7%v/v), and 2-propanol with a concentration of 0.5%v/v was found in one sample. Besides, ethanol was detected in all explored samples (mean concentration: 24%v/v). Conclusion: Methanol was the main toxic chemical component in illegal alcoholic beverages; thus, it should be considered in public health policy and prevention programs in the country

Thermal diffusivity of small volume liquids using a converging thermal wave technique

Thermal diffusivity of transparent and large volume liquids has been measured accurately by using pump-probe techniques like thermal lens and hot wire. Therefore, this technique would be rendered useless in the case of opaque and small volume liquids. The probe beam would have very weak transmission in the opaque liquids while small volume liquids would not give an appreciable beam deflection to measure. Since there is always a limited amount of precious liquids for evaluation, it is crucial to have a measuring technique dedicated for small volume transparent and opaque liquids. Such a technique was designed and developed based on a conventional photoflash technique but with an elaborate sample container, which was a small crucible with a thin copper foil base of diameter 10 mm. The liquid filled up about 1 mm height in the crucible during measurement. Thermal waves were induced into the liquid by irradiating the bottom of the container with a camera flash. The heat was generated at the copper base bottom surface subsequent to the radiation absorption before being defused through the base and liquid sample. The temporal temperature of the sample was measured by placing a thermocouple at an appropriate distance in the liquid. The thermal diffusivity was determined by fitting the theoretical temperature to the experimental data. The theoretical temperature was developed based on the hypothesis that the temperature at the point of detection is a product of heat diffusion in the axial and radial directions that depends on the thickness and thermal properties of the bilayer of solid and liquid as well as on the method of heat generation and detection. The whole set up was calibrated by using distilled water. The thermal diffusivity of the distilled water was which was obtained by fitting the theoretical temperature to the experimental data with R-square value of greater than 0.99. Other work has reported values in the range of ( ) . The technique has been used to measure thermal diffusivity of nano-fluids of zinc sulfide, silver, gold and copper nanoparticles suspension in water, and palm oil biodiesel blends. The metal nano-fluids were prepared by using laser ablation while ZnS nano fluid was prepared by using microwave method. The thermal diffusivity of the silver nano-fluids at room temperature increased in the range of ( ) with volume fraction concentration in the range of ⁄ to ⁄ closely matching the results obtained by using thermal lens. The same trend of thermal diffusivity increase with concentration of nanoparticles was also found in the other nano-fluids. The thermal diffusivity of palm-oil-biodiesel blends of B10, B20, B30, B70, and B80 was found in the range of ( ) . Addition of more than 20% biodiesel had no drastic effect in lowering the thermal diffusivity that might help in reducing the fuel volatility due to the increase of the blend flash point

A Study of Iranian Scientific Productions on Patenting and its Comparison with those of Scientifically Advanced Countries

This scientometric research was conducted through correlation-analysis, and intended to assess the correlation between publications and patents both in developed countries and in Iran. The present study was performed using scientometric methodology and used USPTO for patent data and Scopus for publication data from 2015 to 2019. This study applied both parametric and non-parametric statistical analyses. Moreover, the Spearman Correlation analysis was used to determine the correlation between variables and types of variables. The data analysis was conducted using SPSS1 software. The relationship between these two variables was significant in each of the years under study. Different types of scientific documents, such as books, articles, and conference papers, were assessed. The Pearson Correlation analysis between these types of documents showed significance at 0.01 level in  the articles with the correlation coefficient of 0.858, books with the correlation coefficient of 0.867, and conference papers with the correlation coefficient of 0.874, which was related to the extent of patenting. The subject areas related to social sciences and humanities, engineering and technical sciences, medical sciences, and biological sciences with the correlation coefficients of 0.866, 0.861, 0.843, and 0.834, respectively, at 0.01 level, revealed a significant relationship between the studied countries’ scientific output in these subject areas and the extent of patenting. The results of the present research showed that there was a positive relationship between the studied countries’ scientific output and their level of patenting. The countries that enjoy high levels of scientific output have more inventions. However, the results for Iran indicated that the growth in scientific output has had an insignificant effect on the country’s invention rate

The Effectiveness Of Focus On Form Instruction On The Production Of English Definite And Indefinite Articles In Writing Among Iranian Efl Learners

Konteks pengajaran bahasa komunikatif semasa di Iran telah menyebabkan kurangnya penggunaan tatabahasa atau nahu yang betul dalam kalangan pelajar EFL di Iran. Di samping itu, satu daripada ciri tatabahasa yang bermasalah dalam kalangan pelajar ini adalah penghasilan artikel yang pasti dan tidak pasti. Kajian ini bermatlamat menelusuri kesan dan ketahanan tumpuan terhadap arahan bentuk dalam penghasilan artikel yang pasti dan tidak pasti dalam bentuk tulisan, dalam kalangan pelajar EFL di sebuah sekolah bahasa swastadi Iran. Kajian kaedah bercampur dijalankan, dan seramai 34 orang pelajar EFL peringkat pertengahan di dua buah kelas di Sekolah Bahasa Swasta Safir ikut seerta dalam kajian ini. Tiga ujian dijalankan, iaitu praujian, pasca ujian dan pasca ujian tertunda. Data daripada ujian penentuan tatabahasa dan tulisan bebas, yang memberi tumpuan terhadap penghasilan artikel yang pasti dan tidak pasti dalam bentuk tulisan dianalisis untuk menentukan keberkesanan arahan FonF. Soal selidik soalan-terbuka dikumpul dan dianalisis bagi menentukan pengalaman para peserta terhadap arahan FonF. Konteks pengajaran bahasa komunikatif semasa di Iran telah menyebabkan kurangnya penggunaan tatabahasa atau nahu yang betul dalam kalangan pelajar EFL di Iran. Di samping itu, satu daripada ciri tatabahasa yang bermasalah dalam kalangan pelajar ini adalah penghasilan artikel yang pasti dan tidak pasti. Kajian ini bermatlamat menelusuri kesan dan ketahanan tumpuan terhadap arahan bentuk dalam penghasilan artikel yang pasti dan tidak pasti dalam bentuk tulisan, dalam kalangan pelajar EFL di sebuah sekolah bahasa swastadi Iran. Kajian kaedah bercampur dijalankan, dan seramai 34 orang pelajar EFL peringkat pertengahan di dua buah kelas di Sekolah Bahasa Swasta Safir ikut seerta dalam kajian ini. Tiga ujian dijalankan, iaitu praujian, pasca ujian dan pasca ujian tertunda. Data daripada ujian penentuan tatabahasa dan tulisan bebas, yang memberi tumpuan terhadap penghasilan artikel yang pasti dan tidak pasti dalam bentuk tulisan dianalisis untuk menentukan keberkesanan arahan FonF. Soal selidik soalan-terbuka dikumpul dan dianalisis bagi menentukan pengalaman para peserta terhadap arahan FonF

Determination of Common Pharmaceutical Adulterants in Herbal Medicinal Products Used in the Treatment of Opioid Addiction

Background: Opioid addiction is a serious and growing global concern. Recently, herbal medicine has been popular for the treatment of opioid abusers worldwide. Unfortunately, the adulteration of herbal remedies with undeclared synthetic pharmaceuticals has been reported. In Iran, there are few reports on the adulteration of herbal remedies by synthetic pharmaceuticals sold as opioid addiction treatment. The aim of this study was to analyze herbal products used in opioid addiction treatment for the identification of synthetic pharmaceuticals as adulterants in the remedies.Methods: Forty commonly-used handmade herbal products for the treatment of opioid addiction were collected from herbal shops in Kermanshah (western area of Iran). After organoleptic examinations, the samples were prepared and analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for detecting probable synthetic pharmaceutical adulterants.Results: The chromatographic analysis of the samples showed that 90% of the products had at least one undeclared pharmaceutical ingredient as an adulterant. The majority of the samples (n=19, 47.5%) had only one undeclared pharmaceutical. Diphenoxylate (n=24, 39.3%), tramadol (n=16, 26.2), methadone (n=8, 13.2%), and the combination of these drugs were reported as common adulterants. We detected the presence of buprenorphine and sildenafil as adulterating agents in the herbal formulations for the first time.Conclusion: According to the presence of undeclared synthetic pharmaceuticals in opioid addiction herbal products, as well as their threats to public health, awareness, in this case, is necessary